Three arrested for shooting at Prichard bus stop; no one injured

file photoShots were fired up in the air this morning at a Prichard school bus stop. No one was injured and three arrests have been made.

PRICHARD, Alabama -- Three people were arrested Wednesday for firing a couple of shots into the air near a school bus stop on St. Stephens Road this morning.

No one was injured as students were boarding the bus to go to Blount High School in Prichard, said Pat Mitchell, bus supervisor for the Mobile County Public School System.

An apparent neighborhood dispute led a group of people – whom Mitchell said he does not believe to have been students – to go to the bus stop on St. Stephens Road at Meadow Avenue, which is near Domino’s Pizza.

Some students were on the bus, others were getting on the bus and some were still walking toward the bus stop as the shots were fired up at about 6:25 a.m. The shooters ran from the scene.

A dispatcher for Prichard Police said she was not authorized to release the names of those who were arrested.

Mitchell said he heard police are looking for a fourth suspect as well. And, he said, the school system has asked Prichard Police to patrol bus stops throughout the city this afternoon as students head home.

“Shots were not fired toward the bus or at any student. Shots were fired into the air,” Mitchell said. “Although this behavior was very reckless, we’re thankful no one was injured as a result of this behavior.”

Mitchell added that apparently the shooters knew some of the students on the bus and that “it appears to be a dispute that transpired earlier in the community.”

Mitchell said that while he imagines the situation was scary for the students, school bus drivers are trained to deal with such circumstances.

“Their No. 1 priority is to make sure their students are safe on the bus," Mitchell said. "When the shots rang out, the driver quickly go the students aboard the bus and made sure they were in a safe position and that the bus did not encounter any gunfire.”